The Opelousas courier., 1887-10-15
THE CHILLANO."
characteristics of the Yankee
of South America"
The Most Powerful Republic in
America Except Ours.

The Chlllano is the Yankee of South
America; the most active, enterprising,
ingenious and thrifty of the Spanish
American race, aggressive, audacious
and arrogant, quick to perceive, quick
to resent, fierce in disposition, cold
blooded and cruel as a cannibal. He
dreams of conquest. He has only a
strip of country along the Pacific coast,
SO narrow that there is scarcely room
enough to write it's name upon the map,
hemmed in on the one side by the
eternal SHOWS hat crown the Cordilleras
and on the other by 5000 miles of sea.
He has been stretching himself north
ward until he has stolen all the sea coast
ct Bolivia, with her valuable nitrate de-
posts, all the guano that belonged to
/ Peru, and contemplates taking actual
| possession of both of those republics
soonS He has been reaching southwark
by Diplomacy, as he did northward by
war, and under a recent treaty with the
Argentine Republic divided Patagonia
with that nation, taking to himself the
control of that valuable international
highway, the Straits of Magellan, the
unexplorcd country between the Andes
and the ocean, and thousands of islands
along the Pacific coast, whose resources
arc unknown. BY securing the strait
Chill acquired control of steap haviga-
ton in the South Pacific, and has estab-
lished a colony and fortress at PuhSa
Arenas, by which all vessels must pass.
Reposing TRANQUILITY now in the enjoy
ment of the newly acquired territory
along the Bolivian and Peruvian border,
and deriving IN enormous revenue from
the export tax upon nitrate, the Chill
lano c~ontemplates the internal dlssen-
slons of Peru, and waits a%nxiously for
the time when he can step i'll as arbitra-
tor, and, like the lawyer, take the estate
that the heirs are silly enough to quarrel
over. 1t is but a question of years when
not only Peru but Bolivia will become a
part of Chill, and the aggressive nation
will want to push her eastern boundary
back of the Andes and secure control of
the sources of the Amazon. as she has Of
the navigation Of the strait.
The Chillanos lead the Southern con-
, tinent, and are the most powerful of all
the republics in America except our
own. Their statesmen are wise and
able, their people are industrious and
progressive, and have that strength of
min6aand mhdscle which is given only to
the men of temperate zones. There is
a strong similarity between the Chillanos
and the Irish. Both have the same wit
and reckless courage, the same love OF
l country and patriotic pride. Wherever
a Chilian goes he carries his opinion that
there never was and never can be a bet
ter land than that in which he was born;
and although he may be a refugee or an
exile, he will fight in defense of Chill
: at the drop of the hat. There is some
thing refreshing in his patriotism, even
if it be the most arrogant vanity. Our
! people are becoming ashamed of the
o Fourth of July, and the Declaration oil
Independence is the butt of professional
iokers. The Chiliano will cut the
throat of a man who will not celebrate
with him September Is, his indie
pendence day, and there is a law in the
. country requiring every house to have q
9 flagstaff and every flagstaff to bear tho
national colors on a banner by day and
a lantern by night on the anniversaries
of the republic. All the schools must
use text books by native authors, all thu
n bands play the compositions Of native
e composers and visiting opera and con
cert singers are compelled to vary thei
If performances by introducing the song
of the country. It is said that a French
man can never be d~enationalized. The
same is true of the Chillano. There ha
:, not been a successful revolution in Chill
since 1889, and although there is no
where a more unruly and discordant PEG
% nile. nowhere more murders and othe
serious crimes, in their love Of country
the haughB don and the patient peon
De the hunted bandit and the cruel soldie
are ne.
AS a soldier the Chillano is brave t
es recklessness, and a sease of fear is III
r. known to him. He will not endure
y. siege, nor can he BE- made to fight q
Ill long range; but as soon as he sees tn
Tx enemy he fires one yolley, drops his CUR
&. and rushes in with his curvo. His er
he durance is as great as his courage, an
II no North American Indian can travel $
.. far without rest or go so long withol
food or water as the Chillano peon,
aRoto.n as the mixed race is called. a
the .sCholo' in Peru is the descendal
of the Spaniards and the Incas, SO is Il
aRoto" in Chill the child of the Spanial
and the Araucanian Indians, the race
giants with which the carly explorers T
hv ported that Patagonia was peopied-
n "menne of that bigglness," as Sir Fra
els Drake reported, 'sthat it seemed tt
trees Of the forests were uprooted al
= y - f1n haun n